Alp Uyghur, Oct 30, 2025
Busan / Washington — Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, in a highly anticipated summit. While the meeting focused largely on trade agreements, tariffs, and technology cooperation, not a single word was mentioned about the Uyghurs or the ongoing genocide in Uyghur homeland.
The Trump administration officially designated in 2021 that China had committed genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples. Despite this, reports and eyewitness testimonies indicate that the Chinese government continues its anti-Uyghur policies aimed at erasing their identity, religion, language, and culture.
The White House agenda and Chinese Foreign Ministry readouts emphasized economic issues, including rare-earth exports and U.S. agricultural purchases, while human-rights concerns were entirely absent. Advocates for Uyghur rights expressed alarm that, in 2025, the U.S. seems to have deprioritized addressing systematic abuses in Uyghur homeland.
For the Uyghur community, the omission signals a troubling reality: economic interests continue to outweigh human rights, and the international spotlight on Uyghurs has dimmed even at the highest levels of diplomacy.
Alp Uyghur is a Virginia-Based Uyghur writer for Uyghur Times.